That is not true. McIntyre says Connecticut recognized Whitehead's flight acting upon the sketchiest evidence. Sketchiest? The evidence is strong enough to convince the bible of aviations, "Jane's All the World's Aircraft," of its legitimacy.

McIntyre dismisses eyewitness accounts of those who saw Gustave Whitehead fly more than two years before the Wright brothers' flight. Richard Howell, editor of the Bridgeport Sunday Herald, was present at the Aug. 14, 1901, Whitehead flight and reported it in the Aug. 19, 1901, edition of the Herald.

Writer William O'Dwyer co-authored "History By Contract." Also, according to historian John Brown, at least 102 newspapers had reports of Whitehead's 1901-02 flights. Affidavits and statements by 17 people bear witness to the many flights by Whitehead between August 1901 and January 1902. John Brown's website is available at: www.gustave.whitehead.com.

My wife Jean Savage Collins' grandmother was Mary Savage. She lived across the street from Gustave Whitehead's shop, which was at 241 Pine St., Bridgeport in 1901 and was an eyewitness to the flight.

Her statements are found on page 52 of "History By Contract" and pages 117 to 119 of "The Story of Gustave Whitehead -- Before The Wright's Flew." Both are available for viewing in the official Whitehead archives at the Fairfield Historical Museum.

I'm not convinced that Gustave Whitehead beat the Wright brothers to powered flight. The state was incredibly premature in officially sanctioning that claim.

Despite the vitriol and name-calling in recent opinion pieces, this is not a matter of Whitehead versus the Wrights. Even those who dispute the Wrights' priority do not deny that they flew.

The burden is on the Whitehead faction to provide sufficient proof of their claim, regardless of what the Wrights did. So far, their only responses to legitimate questions about the Whitehead story have been dodges or attacks at the other side.

This battle isn't new: every few decades for the last century, the Whitehead account has resurfaced. Every time, the gaps remain unfilled.

The main piece of "new" evidence (and what apparently convinced Jane's All the World's Aircraft) is a picture magnified 3,200 times (!) to reveal ... a blob. The picture, Whitehead proponents say, is of his No. 21 aircraft in flight. This is the same kind of unscientific photographic technique relied on by Bigfoot and Loch Ness Monster enthusiasts -- and they usually have better pictures. All the other arguments are rehashes, as unconvincing as ever, from previous years.

I'd love to claim my own birthplace, Bridgeport, as the birthplace of flight. But the evidence simply hasn't reached that threshold. The new state law recognizing Whitehead is as irresponsible as what Whitehead supporters say the Smithsonian did for the Wrights. If the Smithsonian's action was "history by contract," what we're witnessing now is history by legislation.